The Campus
I do not think one day goes by that I do not think to myself how beautiful this place is. That is the honest truth! We have hills everywhere, which the first week of the year are a pain for anyone. Trust me, they are STEEP. You haven't experienced the hills of Ohio until you come to OU. My shins hurt the first few days, but you adapt quickly and soon you will have yourself some nice calf muscles! Anyway, the campus is nestled in these beautiful hills covered in green trees. In fact, the campus is divided into greens! East, West, and South are residential greens, and then there is the college green where most of the classroom buildings are. Squirrels are everywhere and they are definitely not timid. The university does a lot of landscaping so in the spring there will be tulips of all colors and once those die out, they are busy planting more flowers for the warmer months. Fall is gorgeous with the leaves in a multitude of colors - crimson, gold, flame red, burnt orange. Beautiful! Winter brings the first snow - which in Athens is usually not a lot, but this winter we experience more than normal - including a HUGE snowstorm that brought nearly 20 inches one weekend. The campus was GORGEOUS under the blanket of snow.

The campus is easy to navigate and I do not find the buildings too spread out; you have to walk but I am guessing it only takes 15 to 20 minutes to get from one side to the other- which for a typical class you won't have to do.

Academics
I can't think of a REALLY horrible teacher I've had. The worst I've had are certainly better than those in high school. I've learned in all of my classes and most teachers are very accessible outside of class through office hours, email, and phone calls. I've never had a problem even in bigger classes (100-400 people).

Most classes are not that large. Big classes are 100-level courses- like histories, psychology, and philosophy. Language classes are always less than 30 and upper level (300 ) are under 20. Some large courses like history will have one class that is a smaller discussion class. In my bigger classes, the profs have always made an effort to answer individual questions.

There are three bookstores uptown within walking distance to get your books.

We are one of the few on the quarter system. We start school in September (2nd week), go until a week before Thanksgiving and then we are done with those classes forever. It's nice! Then we start new classes in January (first monday after new years) go a few weeks into March, and then spring break. Then we come back to new classes which are done the 2nd week of June. The last quarter is by far the hardest because everyone you know will have been out of school for a month, but then again we get to laugh at them when we go back later and get 6 weeks off in the winter. So there! The drawback is it's always mid-terms and finals time... ick. But, if you don't like your classes they are over in 10 weeks, so it's not that bad.

Food & Dorms
The food is not that great. It's not horrible, either. I don't eat meat so I find I eat the same thing every night. They will have hot entrees (usually one veggie one), fast food (grilled cheese, hamburgers, fries, etc.), a salad bar, and desserts at every meal. At lunch they have a deli which is pretty good. Some dining halls (there are 5), have Asian food, some have hand-dipped ice cream... it varies. At dinner all of them have a pasta bar. Every now and then they get creative and have themed-dinners - 50's, Carnival, Valentine's, etc... there are a few each month at certain dining halls. They really get in to them, too, so it's funny. There is one dining hall on West, one on South, two on East, and one uptown.

I believe there are 41 residence halls. West green is close to the athletic facilities so a lot of athletes live there and it's also very close to uptown, East is closest to the college green, and South is near the river and the rec center. South is probably the biggest walk, but I live there now and it's not too bad. All the greens are beautiful so you can't go wrong. Most dorms are air conditioned except a few on South which only have AC in certain rooms due to fire codes. They really aren't that bad, so I can't complain. All have 3 floors, except Bromley uptown which has 9, and the New South building which have 4 plus a ground floor.

Social Life
There are an assortment of fraternities and sororities if that is your thing. There are the numerous clubs and organizations to take part in if you choose. We have sports teams but I think they are all "average".

Be warned: If you don't drink your social life is limited. Trust me, I'm a non-alcoholic (believe it or not there are a few!). OU is famous for it's halloween celebration - a street party that takes over Court Street (the main street uptown). I went and it really isn't that great. My theory is that if you aren't drunk it's probably not that amusing. People just get dressed up, walk around, act dumb, get drunk, and there is usually live music. It's more funny to see the drunk people get arrested. I saw some strange things... Palmerfest and High Fest are street parties that happen in the spring but on a smaller scale - but once again evolve alcohol and music. Speaking of which, Athens does have a good music scene - there are bands playing almost every night at the bars.

Another popular event is the time change riots - where the students get angry because the bars close early. See how we get the party school rep? Well, it's deserved.

As far as underage drinking, it's easy. People will drink and smoke "Meigs County Gold" in their rooms. Do the RA's care? No... not when they are joining in the madness. So, if you have a problem with this, I recommend living in a "Substance Free Dorm," where students fill out a contract. LOL- Can you believe they have to designate them when they all are supposed to be? Typical OU.

We aren't really "diverse" but hey it's better than some schools *cough*Miami*cough*. :) And if you are a minority in even the slightest way expect OU to give you loads of money.



Recommended: Yes